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13 hours ago, HertsRacer said:

There's a Facebook site called Bring back Southampton Speedway, run by a supporters group who have ambitions of bringing back speedway to Southampton. Not much information about how or where this may happen however.

They're hoping to build the new Southampton Speedway Track between Locks Heath & Fareham.

Infill land just off the M27 is now in the process of being bought by a former policeman, and planing permission is going in shortly to build the speedway track . Infill land means houses can't be built on it, and noise issues wouldn't be a problem. The initial plan so I'm told would be for use as a training track along with amateur meetings, which are becoming more and more popular.

Edited by Mimmo
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12 hours ago, mikebv said:

100%...

"Superstars" didn't start out as such and sadly are now out of reach for day to day UK Speedway, so now is the time to set about finding other "Superstars" and that doesn't have to mean global ones but could be a rider who gets a large following at his local track and becomes "a large fish in even a very small pond"...

He would benefit locally through sponsorship, and the club would have a rider who locally gets known and can 'pull a crowd in"...

The more GB riders the better, and the more chance GB will have to try and reach the best team in the world status, which has to be the No1 aim of the BSPL, well above all and any individual team success focus, as this attracts hardly any national attention at all, whereby consistent GB success would..

The promoters have a 'free pass' from supporters to try new innovative and radical things given the pandemic issues they face so let's hope they go for it..

Four (mainly GB) lads per race, all of a similar ability, racing on a well prepared track, on a day/night that provides the best crowd numbers for that track, and in competitions that are ran with credibility amd integrity, and all delivered at an admission price that reflects true value for money...

Can it be done. .?

 

That's spot on. The thing I struggle to understand is that the so called global superstars are only superstars within tge existing speedway fan base certainly as far as UK speedway is concerned. Those names won't draw in sustained extra bums on seats week in week out. 

What you need is an exciting league with commited riders sensible rules something that can be properly promoted to a wide audience. 

 

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So there is talk of teams needing to have British reserves at Championship level....

... It just shows utter contempt yet again for the fans with all this secrecy and “details to be revealed soon” bull$hit. If it’s been sorted at the AGM why invite speculation instead of just releasing the facts and keeping everybody informed?

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6 hours ago, stevehone said:

as a rule of thumb, the tv director will be watching what's out front, no good if it's just one rider on his own, tv was there to try to encourage people to go to a meeting not turn it off. one rider is not what i want to watch.

the old NL in the 80's had it right (before Rye House put a spanner in the works) using British & Commonwealth, something like that with the occasional American's/Europeans if they qualify is ideal as long as they're committed to the British League and live here.

supporters cheering their team because it's THEIR team is what i grew up with (until World Final night), it can only benefit the clubs, track shops, riders, and as mentioned more likely to get sponsors.

fair play to those earning big money elsewhere, get it while it's there, but if they're not riding in GB then it's extra special seeing the GP series, and could boost Cardiff attendance if fans aren't seeing those riders on a regular basis. 

I remember when I first saw Jason Crump race at the old dog bowl...

He was truly incredible...

He 'howled' into the tight turns at a speed not seen before, and one night smashed the track record by miles...

As a long time fan of the sport, and someone who could therefore really appreciate the level of ability, I was truly in awe of what he could do and felt quite privileged to see him do this time and time again every week..

However..

If I had been there watching the racing as a potential new fan of the sport, Jason winning races by such huge distances wouldn't probably have motivated me to go back and repeat the experience, and as for anything else that happened in the races he won 'by miles' I wouldn't have a clue..

And after watching him do this time and time again it did eventually become 'quite boring' to be honest and you started to hope he would miss the gate and have to pass..

And also, even though one of the true 'all time greats' of the sport was in attendance every meeting, (racing against other top stars of the day), crowds dropped away annually...

An entertainment industry needs to consistently entertain to be successful, and Speedway entertains through close racing where ideally (but not specifically) riders pass each other. 

And to do that is simply down to having all riders of a similar level racing against each other.

As an example the Youth Championships served up great racing from Jordan Palin v The Thompson Twins in particular, easily on a par with anything else served up at any level. With the simple reason being their similar ability levels. 

It really doesn't need to cost promoters a fortune to provide great racing.

It's the similar levels of the riders that's the key to entertaining racing, not the names on their kevlars..

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7 minutes ago, Spl77 said:

That's spot on. The thing I struggle to understand is that the so called global superstars are only superstars within tge existing speedway fan base certainly as far as UK speedway is concerned. Those names won't draw in sustained extra bums on seats week in week out. 

What you need is an exciting league with commited riders sensible rules something that can be properly promoted to a wide audience. 

 

Couldn't agree more. Easy to understand rules that aren't constantly being tweaked. Me and my brother have often discussed that when the promoters meet up and discuss new rules the question they should be asking themselves is will they bring more people thru' the turnstiles? If not then don't alter things for the sake of change.

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There was an old adage in Speedway years ago...you make your own stars within 2 months....Always listen to what your customer wants..imo people want 1. Entertainment. 2. Value for money 3. racers not riders..4. decent toilets and food. 5. team members who are yours and neither borrowed or racing for another uk team. 6. A Team..not made up of seven people whose name you can't even pronounce. 7. get rid of race times..it impresses nobody and puts nobody on the gate 8. Standardised equipment..Obviously riders wouldn't like it..but if it saves money they will quickly come round...9. Never let the tail wag the donkey..10. The NL concept is the road map.....entertainment again..

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36 minutes ago, spiegal said:

There was an old adage in Speedway years ago...you make your own stars within 2 months....Always listen to what your customer wants..imo people want 1. Entertainment. 2. Value for money 3. racers not riders..4. decent toilets and food. 5. team members who are yours and neither borrowed or racing for another uk team. 6. A Team..not made up of seven people whose name you can't even pronounce. 7. get rid of race times..it impresses nobody and puts nobody on the gate 8. Standardised equipment..Obviously riders wouldn't like it..but if it saves money they will quickly come round...9. Never let the tail wag the donkey..10. The NL concept is the road map.....entertainment again..

Excellent adage: This Top 10 has just moved Moses' ten commandments into second place. :t:

Edited by Lefty
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On 1/14/2021 at 7:43 PM, Midland Red said:

Meanwhile.... any news on the biscuit front?

My sources tell me that no decision was taking on the biscuit front. An EGM is being set up as we speak to make final decision  after which they will start on more mundane matters such as points limits, rider availability, rules and regs etc.

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....... and some say our best shale which helps provide better entertainment is unavailable due to previous alleged poor payment practices....etc.

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I note that the important information on the points limits for the leagues has not been mentioned by the BSPL. Surely this information is vital to all teams so they can put together a team. 

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6 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

I note that the important information on the points limits for the leagues has not been mentioned by the BSPL. Surely this information is vital to all teams so they can put together a team. 

And I have not heard of any definate signings yet. Coincidence?

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5 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

I note that the important information on the points limits for the leagues has not been mentioned by the BSPL. Surely this information is vital to all teams so they can put together a team. 

The individual promoters know.  They've just not announced it to the public yet. Sounds like there's going to be some kind of staged announcement with Eurosport....  you know to generate some interest.

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1 hour ago, Najjer said:

So there is talk of teams needing to have British reserves at Championship level....

... It just shows utter contempt yet again for the fans with all this secrecy and “details to be revealed soon” bull$hit. If it’s been sorted at the AGM why invite speculation instead of just releasing the facts and keeping everybody informed?

Whenever I hear the " details to be revealed soon" always seems to me like a children's playground "I know something you don't know". Probably not what was intended, but it is my interpretation. 

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20 minutes ago, RS50 said:

Whenever I hear the " details to be revealed soon" always seems to me like a children's playground "I know something you don't know". Probably not what was intended, but it is my interpretation. 

Seems a fair view to take.

Let's leak / dribble out the info. Then the fans who know the rule book can refine it so it becomes more palatable (hopefully!).

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